2007 (Oct 20) San Diego 100 miles

Just before the race people arranging their drop-bags right next to the starting line. The race is about to begin in less than an hour. It's fairly cold and I'm wearing a light jacket and long running pants. Almost all runners do wear short sleeve and short running pants.

All runners are getting ready and they're eager to hit the trail. The trail was really dry and there was a lot of dust in the air as you can see.

The race started and we run towards an awakening day. In front of me are Fred Pollard (68) who just finished the 2007 Badwater in an amazing 44:56:15. He will be the last finisher on this race with 30:54:12. On the right side is Nicole Strong who finished this race in 30:36:20. I had the pleasure talking to her later in this race and she's one amazing woman. She told me that this is her 2nd 100 miler. Her first one was the 2003 Javelina Jundred where she came in with only 2 minutes to spare earning her the "Dead Last Award" award. She made it before the cut-off time because she ran the last mile in a sub-7 minute pace.

The Cuyamaca Mountains are very beautiful and I truly enjoyed this run.

What a beautiful day.

Little ups and downs all along the race.

Sunrise! If everything works out then I'll see this sun go down and up again the next day before I will stop moving forward.

Coming into the first aid station appropriately named "Sunrise".

After that aid station we ran on the Pacific Coast Trail while the sun started to heat up the day.

This is what it is all about: The views are simply breath-taking.

Still smiling and still happy. I'm moving towards the second aid station. However, I am getting a bit hot and I look forward loosing my extra clothing soon despite the strong winds.

Simply can't get enough.

"Entering Cuyamaca Rancho State Park". I think I'm pretty close to the 2nd aid station called Pedro Fages.

Here I come. My wife, Linda, took this picture.

By now I'm pretty hot and I can't wait to loose some of my clothing. By now I'm on a sub-27 hour finishing time.

Sure glad to be here seeing and talking to Linda. She's been fantastic having everything ready for me. I wouldn't have anybody else for my crew. She insisted to crew me despite the fact that she's 7 month pregnant. What a trooper!! I love her so much.

Now I feel better with my extra layers of clothes gone and with some watermelon and banana in my stomach. Linda insists that I take one of her home-made tuna sandwiches to eat along the way for breakfast. She's right. Gotta eat to stay strong even though I am not hungry. In my first 100 miler (Rio del Lago) ZombieRunner Don told me to eat and I did, which helped me feel strong during the night.

Self-portrait of trying to eat breakfast on the run. The sandwich is really good but it was hard to eat it and it took me almost 2 miles to do so.

Along the way I had to jump over several fresh "left behinds" from a horse. Soon enough I discovered who left me those smelly surprises LOL. I thought I better watch out coming through here again during the night on the 2nd loop.

Finally coming into the 3rd aid station Museum, almost 20 miles into the run.

I'm still feeling good and I'm still on my sub-28 hour finish dream goal. However, my left ankle started to hurt and swell like it did 3 weeks prior at the Lake Tahoe Triple Marathon. After the Lake Tahoe I went to the doctor and got some pills, which I took (I do not like taking medicine at all). By the 2nd day my swelling and pain was gone and I thought I was good to go. Now it seemed that I was wrong.

For now I ignored the little pain in my ankle and I kept smiling. I did switch to my bladder because it's so much more comfortable. Unfortunately, that switch took some time and I stood 5 minutes in that aid station. Before the race I told myself to get in and out aid station within 2 minutes.

Off I am going toward the first more difficult up-hills. I walked a lot during the next 6 miles to the next aid station.

Amost on top of that hill it seems where the markings point out a right turn going down.

Am I on top? Or am I not? It turned out not quite yet but it's all good.

What really struck me was the devastation of the Cedar Fire, the largest wildfire in California history, did on October 29, 2003 to this park. Almost along all the race we can see burned trees.

I'm almost at the Paso Picacho aid station.

Almost... almost there.

For good reason I walk into this aid station. My left ankle really started to bug me and I'm not having a good day. I'm also still tired because the night before I only slept for 1 hour.

As usual Linda prepared anything for me. She's awesome. I'm eating watermelon, drinking Ensure and getting my bladder filled up. I'm loosing time by now due my ankle problem but I'm still way ahead of the cut off time.

Again, I'm spending too much time in this aid station but I really need to rest my ankle for a little bit.

My shining star and crew person Linda. She's so supportive of my crazy sport and I can truly say that I she really gives me good energy and spirits when I need it. In my first 100 mile race back in 2005 she was supposed to drop me off at the race and pick me up at the end. Suprisingly she stood with me the whole 28 hours and 55 minutes supporting me at every single aid station. I could not have made it without her.

Alright, time to go. It's beautiful there but I have a purpose and I need to keep going.

A last smile and I'm off on the trail again. However, during that next section my pain in the ankle gets so bad that I decided to take an ibuprofen, something I usually never do.

Coming into the Big Bend aid station 30 miles into the run. Everybody can tell that I'm not having a good time. The ibuprofen didn't help at all because it's swelling.

I'm super-happy to see Linda. She got this magic way of always lifting my spirits so high when I'm down and beat. This year I ran the challenging Miwok 100 and I was beat to dead at the turn around point half way into the race. Just before the turn around point I was extremely convinced that I'll drop at that aid station but then I had a chance to talk to Linda on the phone. She instantly sent me good spirit and energy so that I simply turned around at the aid station and kept going. Soon afterwards I suddenly felt awesome and that feeling stood with me until the end of the race.

Right there I decided to put on a pressure sock to keep the swelling on my ankle down. I also hoped that it would help ease the pain a bit. It wasn't possible to drive into the next aid station so I wouldn't see Linda for over 12 miles.

I'm arriving at the Sweetwater aid station 42.8 miles into the race.

In the last few miles I've lost a lot of time due my ankle. Many times I was forced to walk instead of run even on the downhills.

I'm not happy. It's hard to smile now. However, I'm very happy to see Linda.

Sitting down and removing pressure on my left angle felt great. I sat there for 15 minutes talking to Linda explaining my situation. Yes, we were talking about dropping for the first time right there.

She's such an angel. Standing by me with her big belly :)

Sitting and thinking.

The smiles are gone. I have a decision to make. Ultimately we agreed that I'll go on at least finishing 50 miles. There we would see how I feel and then decide there what do to. It was 7.4 miles to the next aid station and the 50 mile mark and I was still 2 hours and 15 minutes before the 14.5 hour 50 mile cut-off time.

This picture was taken just before I left this aid station. I'm still having trouble finding spirit and fun. You can see that I'm still wearing my pressure sock on the left side but it didn't help much.

Along this part things go for worst and I'm taking another ibuprofen which didn't help either. It will take me over 2.5 hours to do this 7.4 miles, a distance I usually do in 1 hour and 15 minutes. I arrived at the 50 mile aid station with only 45 minutes to the first loop cut-off time but still 2 hours and 45 minutes to the second loop cut-off time.

I decided to drop out of the race NOT because of my pain or tireness but because of the fear of doing some real damage to my ankle. It was a very difficult decision. I definitely will be back next year because I have unfinished business here.